Friday 10 April 2009

To Tone or Not to Tone?

Today I'm going to be talking about the preparation side for makeup, or skincare, specifically toning the skin as part of the 'Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise' routine that most of us follow each day.

I personally don't use a toner, instead I always use water as a toner to rinse off excess cleanser and make the face ready for moisturising. I know a fair few women, and even celebs, who claim that water is as good a toner as one bought off the shelf! However I read an interesting article the other day that claimed that toning is important, because unlike water, it opens the pores after cleansing allowing any impurities such as pollutants and dirt resting in them to come out and be wiped away so that they don't sit in the pores instead creating the dreaded blackheads and comedones many of us are used to!
Confusingly, and this is what I previously thought, I read another source a few days later that claimed toning shrinks the pores so that they don't absorb horrible pollutants and toxins that cause comedones. Well it can't do both so which one is it?!

I used to use toners but the two that I tried in the past weren't very gentle on my skin and despite me having combination skin I found the toners to be too drying leaving it taut and uncomfortable mostly owing to the fact that a lot of toners have alcohol in them, which is reknowned for drying out the skin!

So the article got me thinking - if I try a toner that doesn't contain alcohol, which is these days, a lot easier to find considering the range of toners are so much more varied nowadays, will I find that I prefer using one to water? I've carried out a few makeup appointments in training and when prepping the skin quickly I always tone with an organic, gentle toner made with rosewater. I haven't actually tried it out on my skin yet, but I am tempted to now...

If you have a Holy Grail toner that you swear by please let me know. Right now I'm hearing great things about Nivea's toner and Lush's Tea Tree toner! Watch this space as I may try the Lush one out as I hear it's great for oily skins :-)
To be continued...
Image Source
Image courtesy of Bella Sugar www.bellasugar.com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been confused about this aswell. I use to use water but now I use rosewater from a supermarket called Whole Foods (it's only £3.99 for a big bottle). It's food grade so it's nice and pure, no alcohol and costs less than rose water usually sold in places like Boots. I know a company called Pukka do one you can drink as well as put on your skin (about £9.99). My favorite one is Neal's Yard Remedies Orange Flower water because it's very gentle and smells yummy!!

Unknown said...

Forgot to say that I can give you some rosewater to try next time we meet up as I have lots left of my Whole Foods bargain :)

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